Who was this person?
A member of the Shinsengumi in the late Edo period and a police officer in the Meiji era. Born in Edo, he joined the Shinsengumi in Kyoto and served as an assistant vice-commander and squad captain. In the Boshin War he stayed on to fight at Aizu; in the Meiji era he took the name Fujita Gorō, joined the Tokyo police and served in the Satsuma Rebellion. In later life he worked at schools in Tokyo.
| Name | Saitō Hajime (斎藤一) |
|---|---|
| Born–died | 1844 – 1915 |
| Period | Late Edo–Taishō |
| Birthplace | Edo |
| Also known as | Fujita Gorō |
| Main achievements |
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He is believed to have been born in Edo as the son of Yamaguchi Yūsuke. His first name was Yamaguchi Hajime, and his descendants say Hajime, meaning one, came from his birth on the first day of the first month. His father is said to have left a foot-soldier post in Akashi domain for Edo and later become a shogunate retainer. Some say he was born in Akashi, and much about his origins is unclear.
As a young man he trained hard at swordsmanship, and one record says he frequented Kondō Isami's dōjō, the Shieikan. Around this year he is said to have got into a quarrel with a hatamoto in Edo and hidden in Kyoto with a friend of his father. He is said to have taught at a fencing school there, but details vary and are unclear.
When Serizawa Kamo, Kondō Isami and others formed a band of masterless samurai in Kyoto, he joined at once. The band later became the Shinsengumi and kept order in Kyoto under the Aizu lord Matsudaira Katamori, Kyoto's military governor. Though young, Saitō was chosen as an assistant vice-commander, and later served as a unit captain and fencing instructor.
In the Ikedaya Incident, when the Shinsengumi raided pro-emperor activists gathered at the Ikedaya inn in Kyoto, he served in Hijikata Toshizō's group. Afterward he received a reward from the shogunate and Aizu domain. He became known as one of the Shinsengumi's finest swordsmen, alongside Okita Sōji and Nagakura Shinpachi.
When Itō Kashitarō left the Shinsengumi and formed the imperial tomb guards, Saitō joined them. But this is said to have been a mission to spy for the Shinsengumi, and he soon returned. It is also said that the information he brought back led to the later clash between the Shinsengumi and the tomb guards.
While guarding a Kii domain samurai at the Tenmaya inn in Kyoto, he was attacked but is said to have survived thanks to the chain mail he wore. Soon the Boshin War began, and he fought on the front line at Toba-Fushimi and at Katsunuma in Kai, but the former shogunate forces kept losing. When Kondō Isami surrendered to the new government, he headed north with Hijikata Toshizō and others.
Under Aizu's command he became captain of the Shinsengumi and fought at Shirakawa and Bonari Pass. Even after Hijikata Toshizō and others left Aizu, Saitō stayed and kept resisting with Aizu samurai. In the Aizu War he fought on even after the domain surrendered, laying down arms only when persuaded by a messenger from Matsudaira Katamori.
After a period of confinement with Aizu samurai, when the Aizu Matsudaira house was allowed to be restored, he moved as a samurai of the newly created Tonami domain to the cold, harsh lands of the Shimokita Peninsula at the northern tip of Honshu. He lived in Gonohe and married Yaso, the daughter of an Aizu samurai family. He shared the fate of the Aizu people.
He remarried, to Tokio, daughter of a former senior Aizu retainer, with the former lord Matsudaira Katamori as go-between. At this time he changed his name to Fujita Gorō. The same year he moved to Tokyo and was hired by the newly created Metropolitan Police under Kawaji Toshiyoshi, gathering intelligence among other work. He had turned from samurai to police officer.
As one of the few Shinsengumi survivors, he joined the physician Matsumoto Ryōjun, former member Nagakura Shinpachi and others to build a grave for Kondō Isami and Hijikata Toshizō and a memorial for the Shinsengumi at Takinogawa in Tokyo. Built to remember fallen comrades, it is still visited by many as a place tied to the Shinsengumi.
When the Satsuma Rebellion broke out, he went to war as an assistant inspector in a police unit. Newspapers reported that, though wounded by a bullet during a charge, he captured two enemy cannons. After the war the government awarded him a decoration and a cash prize. Many of his old Aizu comrades also served.
After leaving the police, on the recommendation of Takamine Hideo and others from Aizu, he became a guard at the museum attached to the Higher Normal School. He taught fencing to students, and his skill had not faded; it is said no student could even touch his bamboo sword. Later he also worked in the office of the Women's Higher Normal School.
He died of a stomach illness at his home in Hongō, Tokyo. It is said he passed away sitting in meditation in the alcove of his room. His grave is at a temple in Aizu-Wakamatsu. His life, which carried him through turbulent times from Shinsengumi swordsman to police officer to a school, was later portrayed in many novels and manga.
A. A member of the Shinsengumi in the late Edo period and a police officer in the Meiji era. Born in Edo, he joined the Shinsengumi in Kyoto and served as an assistant vice-commander and squad captain. In the Boshin War he stayed on to fight at Aizu; in the Meiji era he took the name Fujita Gorō, joined the Tokyo police and served in the Satsuma Rebellion. In later life he worked at schools in Tokyo.
A. Period: Late Edo–Taishō. Born in 1844, died in 1915.
A. Saitō Hajime was born in Edo.
A. After moving to the Tonami domain with former Aizu retainers, he took the name Fujita Gorō and joined the Tokyo police. He married Tokio, daughter of a senior Aizu retainer, and served in a police unit during the Satsuma Rebellion. After leaving the police he worked at schools in Tokyo, and he died in 1915.
See also: Wikipedia (ja) / Wikipedia (en) / Wikipedia (fr) / Wikipedia (zh) / Wikidata
Follow this life (autoplay)Kondō IsamiHijikata ToshizōMatsudaira KatamoriOkita SōjiKawaji Toshiyoshi
Matsudaira KatamoriYamaoka TesshūTokugawa YoshinobuNakaoka ShintarōTakasugi ShinsakuKusaka GenzuiOkita SōjiPrincess Kazu
People of the Edo period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.